Waste materials such as manure typically comprise both liquid and solid components. The solid components are useful for compost, fertilizer and fuel. Solid components used for compost may contain some moisture, but it is generally undesirable for solid components used for fuel to have more than a trace of moisture.
The liquid components must be properly treated to minimize health risks which would arise if the liquid components of manure found their way into the water supply. There are numerous prior art examples of devices which are used for separating the solid and liquid components of manure.
The closest prior art of which the applicant is aware is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,873, entitled “Solid and Liquid Separation Machine”, and is shown in FIG. 8. The separation machine includes a body 190 having two ends respectively provided with a rotation shaft 191 and a drive gear 192. One rotation shaft 191 is driven to rotate by the motor 193. A chain 194 is mounted between the two drive gears 192. A scraper 197 is secured on the chain 194 by a fixing plate 195 and a locking plate 196, for carrying upward the solids contained in the waste water, and squeezing the water contained in the solids. The front section of the bottom of the body 190 is provided with a bottom net 198, and the rear section of the bottom of the body 190 is provided with a bottom plate 199.
The squeezed solids are then carried upward by the scraper 197 to drop into a collecting tank. However, when the solids are carried upward by the scraper 197, the bottom net 198 is easily blocked by the solids, thereby greatly affecting the water filtering effect, and thereby causing inconvenience in operation and increasing the cost of maintenance. In addition, when the atmospheric temperature is decreased to 0° C., the liquid will freeze. Thus, the solid and liquid separation machine cannot conveniently separate the solid from the liquid.